Just Pretending
by Sanumarox123
Summary: Elena's a junior in a small town high school with a messed up life. Damon's from the same school, but he was expelled because of a mistake 2 years ago. They meet purely by accident, & they clash. She runs away & he doesn't follow her. They meet again months later, with feelings never felt before. When a tragedy occurs, what will happen? AU/AH- Mainly DE, w/ hints of other pairings.


**Okay. I sincerely apologize for any suckish parts to this first chapter, I lost more than half of the pages I wrote during a concert. **

**It's a new story, loosely based on the two characters of Jay and Manny on Degrassi, mainly in their 7-10 season :)**

**I have changed a few things up, but I hope you like it! **

**This story is rated T for now… but most likely will go up to M in the later chapters.**

**Enjoy!**

**AU/AH**

_**I do not have any affiliation with any of the characters, the shows mentioned, as well as any media or music. I do not own the plot, actually, but certain parts are mine. Thank you for your consideration.**_

_Just Pretending_

Pretend. That's all her life was now. With her mother gone and her father succumbed to alcohol, she had to struggle to live on her own, while still maintaining a healthy environment for her younger brother, Jeremy. And she was doing pretty well. She had acquired a job at the Mystic Grill, to her surprise, even though she pretty much failed the pretest by letting go of the smoothie maker and spraying it on her boss. She actually kept her 4.0 GPA in her junior year to much of the school's member's surprise. But she wasn't, because her mother had always told her that she could do anything she wanted to, as long as she put her head to it.

Elena wanted to sing. She wanted to act, sing, record, dance, go to Hollywood…! But what she wanted and what she _could _do were two total different things. So she pretended to be Ms. Goody-Two-Shoes, becoming the teacher's pet and avoided any gossip or the 'in' crowd. She pretended that inside she wasn't dying for a different and more exuberating love than the one she had had with her previous boyfriend. She pretended that she didn't want her parents back together, even though that's what every child wants.

She pretended she didn't wish that her whole life; the past, present, and future, could be totally different. That she didn't hate her life and would trade anything to become normal.

x-x-x-x-x

There was a boy in the small town she lived in. He was known for getting expelled from the only high school there three years before. Instead of slacking off and becoming a notorious bad boy, he went and got a job at a local car place. And he maintained a "bad boy" personality.

He was two years older than Elena, and she had never met him because of the fact she only moved to Mystic Falls a year ago. He would have been out of high school anyway, and never bothered to enroll in a different one, so he came to the school parking lot every morning from eight thirty in the morning to noon and checked each car. There weren't many cars, (only thirty some came with cars while everyone else took public transport), so that was plenty of time. And by the time Elena came out at break, he was gone, leaving no trace behind.

That was how she met him, really. Even though she didn't know who it was at the time.

Her car, no matter how beaten and worn it looked, was her prized possession. One day, she was called to the principal's office, and was told that her car was being towed. She ran outside, ignoring the stares of everyone going to their next class. Brushing her shoulder length brown hair back into a bun, she marched over to where her blue-black Camaro was being towed by a big red truck. Elena walked furiously over to the truck and hoisted herself up onto the passenger door's ledge. She knocked, and the window squeaked as the person inside leaned over and rolled it down.

She was very surprised that the windows revealed a very cute boy, with a kind of piercing blue eyes that she had never seen before. The annoying half smirk planted on his nicely drawn features snapped her out of her staring and back to life. She watched him take his black baseball hat off his ebony colored hair and brush it back before putting it back on, backwards.

"May I help you?"

"That's my car you're towing."

His sarcastic tone surprised her. "Oh? Well, I guess a young woman like you would expect never to get in trouble, am I right?" His eyes twinkled with mischief. "Your car was parked in the handicapped section. And you're obviously not handicapped."

He rolled his sleeves up twice and raked her eyes over what he could see of her body eagerly enough to make Elena blush, and suddenly hate herself for feeling.

She refused to be caught further in his trap and avoided his hinting comment by firing one back at him.

"And what gives you the right to tow it?"

"Tow what?" He said with an air of innocence that didn't quite fit his attire or look he gave off.

Elena sighed in exasperation. "My car, you doofus." She was getting quite frustrated with his infuriatingly handsome stranger who, first of all, obviously knew he was cute, and second of all, was contradicting her in a way that was unfamiliar.

"Well, shortcake, but I hate to break it to ya: I DO have the right to."

Elena gave up. "Fine, let's start over. My name's Elena Gilbert, I'm a junior here, and I would like to know why you, a strange apparently mechanic man, have the right to tow a random car off a school lot." She opened the door and held her hand out in greeting.

The guy took her hand. "My name is Damon Salvatore, I used to go to school here but was kicked out, and the only way to maintain a life was by becoming my uncle's assistant at his car shop. At John's Auto Shop. I work here at the school in the mornings, as a continuous punishment for what I did to get kicked out." He let go of her hand before continuing. "I took you car because when I looked at it, there was an obvious break in the window, it needs a good oil change, and the tires could use a good wash, as well as the car."

"And why couldn't you have fixed that here?"

He gave her a look, and she decided to act like she knew why. "Oh."

"You have no idea why, do you?"

Elena shook her head 'no', and he chuckled. "Well, you figure out why, and maybe you'll get a prize or something!"

Damon suddenly became serious again. "Listen, I need to get back. If you want to come with me, fine, but don't make me wait."

Elena contemplated for a few seconds, and finally decided on her answer. "Oh, fine. It'll be fun to miss History and Biology for once."

As she got in the car, Damon warned her, "No talking, I mean it. And no questions why, either. Or else you can go get a new car. "

Elena huffed in annoyance but kept quiet.

"Respecting elders, I like it."

She hit him with the palm of her hand and they were off.

x-x-x-x-x

**Sorry for the end. No idea what happened there, the story just continued and continued. **

**Other than that, what'd you think?**

**New chapter soon, already written up, need to proofread! I'd like SOME reviews, thanks :)**

**Follow me on twitter for randomness about TVD, Delena, and other stuff :) sanumarox123**

**-Allysa**


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